


ease your troubles, warm your soul

by whoisliina (isaacbahey)



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Couch Cuddles, Fluff, Morning Cuddles, Multi, Other, SO MUCH TEA, Sick Character, Swearing, Tea, a lot of piss talk, all sorts of cuddles, honestly so much fluff, meme jokes, the occasional kiss as well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 08:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6147504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isaacbahey/pseuds/whoisliina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Calum squeezes Luke in his arms, presses a kiss to his neck. “Up and at ‘em, Lukey,” he whispers, fingers sneaking under Luke’s shirt to poke him. He’s not as gentle to Luke as Ash was in the morning, but Luke wakes up just the same.</i>
</p><p>  <i>“Dick,” he says, but doesn’t seem to mean it.</i></p><p><i>“Ssshhh, Luke, you’re on vocal rest,” Calum reminds him, holding back a laugh. Luke whines. </i><br/>--<br/>Luke falls ill somewhere between Tokyo and Shanghai. Ash takes it upon himself to give Luke all the necessary cuddles while not getting any more of his band sick. The answer is tea - and lots of it. Possibly too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ease your troubles, warm your soul

**Author's Note:**

> i am weak for ot4 on a good day, and then Luke goes and gets sick and i turn to my keyboard for comfort. i've been writing for three days, basically, and it's done now. long and fluffy and full of really dumb stuff.
> 
> i hope you enjoy it nevertheless! :D
> 
> (this probably didn't happen, but i'd like to think it did.)

Luke looks a little off on their last day in Japan, more quiet and subdued than usual. Ash asks him about it and Luke says something about a headache, tries to play it off as a little bump in the road. When they head for Shanghai, however, he gets worse, starting to sound hoarse and looking sad and shivering before Ash wraps him in a blanket like a gigantic man-burrito. When they touch ground in China, he sees a doctor and is quickly declared proper sick, put on some meds and told to rest. Easier said than done in the middle of the world tour, of course. (Well, three shows into the world tour, really. That in particular pisses Luke off.) Their accommodation is upgraded to a huge suite with its own kitchen and separate rooms within it to give Luke some privacy.

 

The thing is, when one of them gets sick, they’re all in danger. They live in each other’s pockets, squeezed side by side in cars and buses and planes, and enjoy each other’s company as much as all best friends do. And since Luke’s the fallen man, keeping distance is even more difficult: his puppy eyes are very hard to look at and avoid. He’s never as vocal about needing cuddles as Mikey tends to be, never plops down in someone’s lap or makes loud annoying sounds until someone pets him. Instead, he just looks at his bandmates with his huge dumb eyes, maybe makes the occasional grabby hands if the eyes alone don’t have the desired effect, and they’re cuddled up to him before their brains even catch up. 

 

So they’re all at risk now since Luke looks very mopey and upset on his own and none of them can bear to look at him like that. Luke is guilty about the whole thing, too - he knows he might get his entire band sick - but he can’t help it. He is especially cuddly when he’s not feeling well.

 

Ash leaves him to sleep alone that first night with a heavy heart, but Luke almost throws him out, says he’s gonna pass out pretty quickly anyway. He looks sad saying it, but when Ash checks on him half an hour later, he’s deep asleep, quietly snoring because of his blocked nose, his mouth open and sweat gathering on his forehead. Ash runs a hand through his slightly gross unwashed hair and doesn’t even feel disgusted.

 

Michael is looking at him with concern when he settles down on the sofa. The concern, though, is for Luke, Ash knows that.

 

“How is he?” Michael asks, and Calum lifts his eyes from the TV. 

 

“Ill,” Ash replies, all serious. “But sleeping. It’ll do him good.”

 

Michael nods at that.

 

“He looks so fucking sad all the time, I can’t handle it,” he says then. “I wanna cuddle him and it’s dumb that I can’t.”

 

“I’ve been wanting to cuddle him the whole damn day,” Calum says, turning to face them all proper, now. Ash only smiles for a second at the problems this band has, then turns serious again. 

 

“You know we shouldn’t,” he says, sounding vaguely pissed about it. “We can’t all get sick. We’re three shows in, we can’t do that to them.”

 

Michael sighs. 

 

“Course we shouldn’t, I know that,” he says quietly. “Still want to, though.”

 

Calum hums, agreeing, and Ashton spends some time staring into empty space, thinking.

 

He is the parent of the band when he switches his dad mode on (the usual setting is excitable squirrel) and so he takes it upon himself to work out a way to keep all of his bandmates safe and happy. Luke needs cuddles, so he must have cuddles; but also, it would be great if all four of them didn’t get sick. He calls up his mum early next morning, asks her for advice, and when Michael and Calum waddle into the lounge, both looking very sleepy, Ash has a plan.

 

“Here you go,” he says, handing over mugs of tea to each of them. Michael eyes the mug suspiciously, sniffs it, looks at the bits of ginger and lemon floating in it. It smells like honey, too, so Ash has gone all out.

 

“I’ll have coffee, thanks,” Michael says, and Calum lets out a sound that Ashton interprets as agreeing.

 

“You will have coffee  _ later_, Mikey. You can’t get sick,” he argues, shoves the mugs at his bandmates. “If you want to be with Luke _ at all _ today, you need it. Prophylactic measures.” 

 

Calum lifts an eyebrow at the big words, but finally accepts the mug anyway. Michael looks at Calum, then Ash, sighs and begrudgingly takes the mug.

 

“Good,” Ash says, very mother-like, his hands free again, and grabs a tray from the counter. There are two bowls of cereal, two plates with bread, a jar of peanut butter and another of jelly, and two mugs with what appears to be the same tea that Mikey and Cal are having. One of them’s normal-sized, the other gigantic. The big one has a picture of a penguin on it.

 

“He needs a lot of it,” Ash says as an explanation and then leaves for Luke’s room, guessing Cal and Mikey can help themselves to breakfast. Luke’s probably not even awake yet, but they have soundcheck soon. Ash accepts his destiny of waking the ill, sleepy, probably grumpy little dragon.

 

Ashton opens the door almost soundlessly. Luke is indeed still asleep, looking a little red in the face under a heap of blankets. Ash puts the tray on his nightstand and sits down on Luke’s bed, pulling back the covers. 

 

“Luke,” he says very gently, putting a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “You gotta get up.”

 

Luke whines through his sleep and hides his face in the pillow. Ashton smiles sort of affectionately. 

 

“Come on, babe. I got you breakfast, you just gotta get up,” he carries on, his voice gentle to ease the grumpiness he’s sure to meet with. Luke opens the one eye Ash can see and groans.

 

“Feel like shit,” he mumbles and turns back to face Ashton.

 

“I know,” Ash replies sympathetically and points to the tray. “Got you tea to health you up.”

 

“That’s not… People don’t say that,” Luke says, and Ash grins, knowing Luke is actually awake now. 

 

“Come on. Breakfast and shower and soundcheck,” Ash says and Luke lifts his head. After eyeing the tray for a few seconds, he smiles at Ash.

 

“You staying with me?” he asks so hopefully Ash can’t help but grin back.

 

“Yep. Healthing myself up as well,” he replies.

 

“Shut up, that’s not…” Luke protests, but rests his sweaty forehead against Ashton’s shoulder. Ash counts that as a victory.

 

“Get in here,” Luke offers then, scooting away to make room. Ash complies, lies down properly and shoves his feet under the blanket.

 

They enjoy their breakfast in silence for a little while. Luke is way more enthusiastic at the tea than the others - which might be to make Ash feel good about it, but Ash doesn’t mind as far as he drinks it all - and seems to enjoy the rest of it, too.

  
“Can’t remember the last time I had breakfast in bed,” he says when he finishes his PB&J. 

 

“Probably in London,” Ash offers. 

 

“Probably, yeah. Tried to get my Mum to do it once, she told me to bugger off,” Luke replies. Ash smiles.

 

“See, that’s why you’re stuck with me and not your Mum.”

 

“Yeah. I love that,” Luke admits honestly and his smile is a little shy when Ash looks at him.

 

“You love exploiting me for breakfast in bed,” he repeats, one eyebrow raised, and Luke laughs a little, cut off by a cough that makes Ash worry.

 

“I love you for lots of reasons,” he says when his throat feels better and squeezes Ash’s fingers with his free hand for a second. “Cal and Mikey, too. I love all of you.”

 

Ash finds it adorable when Luke’s like this: they all know they love each other, but they rarely talk about it this openly. 

 

“And we all love you too,” he says to Luke, smiling when Luke looks stupidly happy about that fact. 

 

They talk a while more about everything - home and Bali and the tour and the new stuff they’re writing - until Calum's face appears in the doorway.

 

“You guys should shower if you need to, we gotta go soon. Hey, Luke,” he says before disappearing, smiling at his bandmate widely. Ash knows why - it’s so good to see him looking happy. 

 

“You go first,” Luke says, coughing again. “I need to finish this.” He lifts his mug and takes another sip. Ash seems to doubt it for a while, then gets up anyway. 

 

“You’re on vocal rest from now on,” he tells from a safe distance and smiles apologetically when Luke pouts. He’s glad they got to talk anyway.

 

Ash showers, and then Luke does, too, and after Ash has made sure he took his meds, they leave for the venue for soundcheck. Michael sits next to Luke for the ride, putting an arm around him and letting him relax a little. They talk in hushed voices most of the way (well, Michael talks and Luke either nods or shakes his head or smiles).

 

Soundcheck is okay, mostly, even though Luke can’t give his all. Whenever he tries, Ash shoots warning looks at his band and either Michael or Calum will nudge him a little. Luke gets it, of course - he needs to save what he has left for the actual show - but it stresses him out, doing things half-assed. 

 

Ash is the last one back to the car when they leave the venue. He sits next to Luke and drops a little bottle in his lap.

 

“Got you probiotic yoghurt,” he says simply. Luke honours his vocal rest and only smiles gratefully, opening the bottle. After a while, he asks, voice hoarse: 

 

“Doesn’t it kind of cancel out the antibiotics?”

 

Ash thinks about it for a while. He’s not sure how it works.

 

“No, I think it’s just pro the good stuff, you know,” he finally says and Luke seems satisfied. Ash eyes him carefully while he drinks it. 

 

“Am I… trying too hard with this whole thing?” he finally asks, frowning. Luke whips his head toward him, looking surprised, and then quickly shakes his head.

 

“No, no! I like it,” he says quietly and reaches over again to squeeze Ashton’s fingers with his free hand. “Feel loved,” he adds, then pretends to zip his mouth shut.

 

“You are,” Ash replies with a smile, and when Luke is done with his yoghurt, he leans his head on Ash’s shoulder. 

 

They get to relax for a while when they get back to their temporary home, and Calum makes a beeline for the kitchen to put the kettle on while Luke heads back to his bed. Ashton grins at Cal appreciatively; Michael raises an eyebrow from where he’s already settled in with his laptop.

 

“Going to Luke’s?” he asks.

 

“Yeah. We’re probably gonna have a nap or something,” Calum replies, yawning at the thought.

 

“That’s good. He needs it,” Ash says, joining Cal to cut up some more ginger and lemon. Michael makes a face when he sees four mugs lined up on the counter, but doesn’t say anything. He knows it’s necessary.

  
“ _ I  _ need it,” Calum argues, but smiles anyway, from cuddle anticipation, probably.

 

Ash helps him make tea for all of them and sends him off with a messy kiss to his temple. It’s important that they still pay attention to each other, too, not just Luke, and Cal smiles at the kiss happily, so it’s a win.

 

Luke is under the covers when Calum walks in with two mugs, but not asleep; Cal sees the light from his phone screen illuminate his face. 

 

“How you doing?” he asks and Luke absentmindedly shows him a thumbs up. A second later, he lifts his head, thinks about it and lets the thumb fall to somewhere below the middle on that scale. 

 

“More tea?” he asks and Calum grins. 

 

“You seem a smidge more excited about it than Mikey,” he replies.

  
“You’re all drinking tea because of me now?” Luke asks, putting his phone away, and seems apologetic about it.

 

“Oh, come on, it’s not like it’s poison,” Calum replies and hands over Luke’s enormous mug before climbing into bed. “It’s a pretty small price to pay for getting to spend time with you.”

 

Luke seems more at ease upon hearing that, sniffs the tea, wraps both of his hands around the mug. It’s so big his fingertips barely touch.

 

“It’s not bad,” he finally says. “There’s just a lot of it.”

 

“Yeah, Ashton insisted on giving you a litre at a time,” Calum says, laughing quietly. It’s not even too big of an overstatement.

 

“Ash has a poor understanding of how the human bladder works,” Luke replies and Calum laughs again. 

 

“ _ You _ have a poor understanding of how vocal rest works,” he says then, and Luke looks a bit sheepish. “Let’s drink these and have a nap. I’m sleepy and you probably wanna rest a bit, too.”

 

Luke nods fervently and focuses on his tea for a little while. Calum twines one of his legs with Luke’s and puts his free arm around Luke.  Luke cuddles into him gladly, both hands still around his mug, and lifts his head to press a kiss to Calum’s neck. Cal smiles at it and holds on to Luke a bit tighter. 

 

He finishes his tea first, naturally, and patiently waits for Luke to deal with his. Luke decides to chug the last third of it and then sighs.

 

“Gotta pee,” he whispers and Calum laughs.

  
“Go on,” he encourages and Luke sits up.

 

“No sleeping without me,” he warns Cal from the doorway. Calum closes his eyes and pretends to snore. When Luke leaves with a huff, Calum takes his jeans and socks off, settles under the covers and eyes the door until Luke returns, wiping his hands into his shirt. Calum smiles automatically and Luke mirrors it, climbing back to bed.

 

“Naptime,” he says with glee and Calum laughs, wrapping himself around Luke. This is why they work so well, Cal is the big spoon and Luke the little one, and the height difference is so small it doesn’t even matter. Calum feels it when Luke falls asleep - he’s a bit heavier on his arm, breaths deep and calm. That helps Calum drift off too, nose against Luke’s neck.

 

He is up in an instant when Ash opens the door, but Luke doesn’t stir in his arms. Ash sneaks closer, smiling. “Leaving for the show in a half an hour,” he whispers, picking up their mugs. Luke still doesn’t move. Calum nods and Ash leaves them, looking awfully fond.

 

Calum squeezes Luke in his arms, presses a kiss to his neck. “Up and at ‘em, Lukey,” he whispers, fingers sneaking under Luke’s shirt to poke him. He’s not as gentle to Luke as Ash was in the morning, but Luke wakes up just the same.

  
“Dick,” he says, but doesn’t seem to mean it.

 

“Ssshhh, Luke, you’re on vocal rest,” Calum reminds him, holding back a laugh. Luke whines.

  
“Ash said we got a half an hour. So we actually have 45 minutes,” he relays the message and Luke laughs. 

 

“We should try and please him anyway,” he whispers and sits up, yawning. Calum pushes his own yawn down and finds his jeans, sitting back on the bed to pull them on. Luke rubs his eyes and then climbs out of bed, too. They don’t talk because Luke shouldn’t; they share a companionable silence getting dressed and then Luke climbs closer for another cuddle. This time, he wraps his arms around Calum, too, and they just sit there for a while. Luke finally removes one arm, draws a heart on Calum’s thigh with his finger. Calum watches it, then at Luke, who is blushing a little, and grins. He’s glad that Luke’s vocal rest doesn’t stop him from saying the important things.

 

“Love you too, Lukey,” he says affectionately and then nudges for Luke to get up. Luke hangs on to his pinky with his own when they leave the room. 

 

Luke sits next to Michael on the way to the venue, again, having finally let Calum’s finger go. Michael is handsier now than in the morning, claiming it’s because they haven’t cuddled properly yet, and Luke just laughs at his ridiculous attempts to cover as much of Luke’s body with his as possible while still being restrained by a seatbelt. They start vocal warmups in the car, Luke’s voice rest on pause for a little while, and Michael pats his arm sympathetically when his range runs out way earlier than usual. 

 

Michael and Calum have beers before the show, as per usual, but this time, Luke is stuck with another mug of tea (this one slightly smaller) because he’s on antibiotics. He envies Mikey and Cal for it - beer always helps him relax and cools him down before a show. He’s gonna get hot on stage anyway, right?

 

However, when it comes to dressing time, he doesn’t want a T-shirt, thinking it’s better to dress in something slightly warmer just in case. He picks a lovely striped shirt with longer sleeves, and Michael tells him he looks amazing in it, which makes him smile again. It’s tiring him to be on his feet, and that in turn makes him a bit sad, but his band helps him so much. He’s so glad he’s not doing this alone.

 

The show, all in all, goes pretty well, considering. Where Luke can’t sing, the audience takes over, and the warmth he always feels for his fans burns brighter than usual in his chest. (His lungs also burn in his chest by the encore, but Luke finds it easy to differentiate between those fires.) Real bands save fans, real fans save the sick singers of bands. 

 

Luke is stuck in a weird place after the show, exhausted and in slight pain but just as high on adrenaline as the rest of his band. He feels simultaneously more alive and more dead than before. Ashton, Calum and Michael are talking over each other (Michael wins) and Luke can’t really get a word in because it hurts to talk (and technically, his vocal rest is back on). He almost looks forward to the huge mug of tea that will be pressed into his hands as soon as they get home. 

 

Michael sends him to the sofa and tells him to find something cool to watch on YouTube while he makes Ash make them tea. Ash doesn’t need to be forced, it turns out - he makes enough tea for all four of them - but Michael still lingers in the kitchen until he can return with two steaming mugs.

 

“How’re you feeling?” he asks, sitting down. He doesn’t sound as motherly as Ash when he asks it.

 

“Not much better, I guess,” Luke replies, voice so low and gravelly it makes him wince. “Pissing like a horse, though, thanks to all this tea you guys keep bringing me.”

 

Michael laughs and clinks their mugs together.

 

“Amazing. At least it might help you a little?” he asks, sounding hopeful.

 

“I think it definitely helps right now, my voice is fucking wrecked from the show,” Luke replies. This is all he can promise for now, but it’s a small solace. Michael even smiles at that. He seems to be soft Mikey now, possibly too tired to be obnoxious and loud.

 

“So what are we watching?” he asks and looks at the screen. It’s some sort of a Spongebob compilation, which, yeah, obviously. Michael decides he can humour Luke and settles down comfortably. 

 

“I’ll kill you if you get me sick,” he threatens, but softens it with a kiss to Luke’s cheek. Luke smiles and presses play.

 

Michael’s done with his tea by the time the video ends - his tactic is to drink it as fast as possible because he’s not overly fond of the taste. 

 

“Play something,” Luke says quietly, his voice gone a bit softer thanks to the warm liquid. Michael turns to him, raises an eyebrow. Luke seems sure of himself.

  
“You just wanna watch me play?” he asks and Luke nods.

  
“My brain is, like, full of mucus, I’d suck at everything. Watching you play doesn’t require the brainpower.”

 

Michael raises one corner of his mouth in a smile. 

 

“Fine, then. What?” he asks. 

 

“Anything,” Luke says, but then corrects himself. “None of the ones where you need to scream at other people.”

 

Michael lets out a laugh and opens Steam to find the right game. He decides on some room-escaping adventure - one he can’t completely lose himself in - and Luke hums, settling against him, arms around his neck. 

 

Michael starts playing and it’s pretty nice, Luke watching. He even provides some helpful tips among the snarky commentary. The game is not too demanding, so they can chat the whole time, and it’s nice. Luke’s in his bubble and he’s in Luke’s.

 

“Noooo, you’re supposed to find the right book,” Luke says, pointing his finger at the screen, tea mug still in his hand. “Look, it’s the third one. I know.” 

 

“Shouldn’t you be back on vocal rest?” Michael snaps back, looking at Luke judgingly before Luke smiles angelically, the little shit. Even worse is that he’s right. The book Luke suggested gives them the clue to get out of yet another room. Luke nuzzles into his neck. 

 

“We’re a good team,” he says, sounding very happy about it. 

 

“If the band thing flops, we’ll become escape artists,” Michael fuels the fantasy. “Tea done?”

 

Luke nods. “I gotta go piss again soon.”

 

“At least you’re hydrated,” Michael offers and Luke lets out a laugh.

 

Two doors open simultaneously behind them and a moment later, Cal leans over the headrest of the sofa and the kitchen light turns on. They’ve been scheming behind Michael and Luke’s backs, it appears.

 

“Movie night,” Calum says happily, heaves himself up over the headrest and lands next to Luke with complete lack of grace, kissing him on the cheek. Ash appears from the kitchen to take Luke and Michael’s mugs, eyeing Michael a bit warily.

 

“Heeeeeey,” Michael complains, true to form, pausing the game that has started the next level. “It’s my cuddle time!” Calum reaches over to ruffle his hair, but Mikey’s genuinely a bit mad, it looks like.

 

“Calum, you dick, you got your nap! We’re gaming!” he argues. Luke pouts.

 

“Mikey,” he says quietly, snuggling closer. “We can watch something together. I’ll still cuddle you, it’ll just be… intensified.”

 

Michael looks at him for a few seconds and finally laughs. 

 

“It’s like the meme,” he says. “Like, a shaky gif of us with CUDDLING INTENSIFIES in square brackets on top of it.”

 

Calum snorts. Luke gives a more appreciative laugh. 

 

“Exactly that,” he agrees and Michael seems to be at peace with that.

 

“Make up what you want to watch,” Ash calls from the kitchen, accompanied by the sound of chopping.

 

“We’re getting more tea,” Michael says matter-of-factly and Luke looks mildly horrified. 

 

“I’m gonna go piss or I’ll explode,” he says with a sigh, getting up. “Pick something I don’t have to think too hard about.”

 

“I’ll see if I can get him to give you a smaller mug,” Cal says, getting up, too, and Luke lets out an odd sound from the doorway to the bathroom. It’s probably his way of blessing Calum for his valiance. Calum laughs. “Yell your choices at me,” he tells Michael and leaves for the kitchen. Michael scrolls their list of films, calls out a few names, and they settle on Anchorman just because they all love it. Luke definitely will.

 

Luke definitely does when he returns with a huge pillow from his bed and sees what they’ve picked. “Ooh, awesome,” he exclaims and Michael smiles happily at him from the TV where he’s connecting cables. Cal and Ash return from the kitchen shortly after, each carrying two mugs, and Ash turns the lights off with his foot, which is pretty impressive considering his luggage. 

 

“Got your meds, too,” Ash says when he’s put the mugs down. Luke’s is still bigger than the others, but not by as much. Luke mouths a thank you to Calum, to which Cal grins, then turns back to Ash who’s offering him his pills. He tests the tea - it’s hot, but drinkable - and swallows the pills with the drink. 

 

“Movie time now?” he asks, and Ash nods.

 

“You wanna lie down?” he asks, and Luke eyes the couch suspiciously. 

 

“I mean, if you wanna sit on the floor,” he says with a smile, first, but then thinks about it for real. 

 

“We can make it work,” Cal says and sits down on one end of the sofa while Ash takes the other. “Come on. Head on my lap,” Calum commands, reaching for the pillow Luke’s still holding. Luke hands it over, then sets his tea down to climb on the sofa. Calum fluffs the pillow with one hand, puts it on his lap, and when Luke lies down, it’s surprisingly comfortable. He smiles up at Calum and Calum smiles back.

 

“Mikey,” Luke calls out, patting the space next to his thighs. “Legs in your lap.” 

 

“Ooh, I get the perfect handjob angle,” Michael says excitedly and Luke giggles. “Idiot. I’m too tired for sex,” he replies.

 

“I’m glad that’s your only reasoning against it,” Michael says, sounding smug, and sits down, picking Luke’s legs up. “These things go on for miles,” he says when Luke’s settling, patting his thighs a bit. Luke laughs again. Michael gives him his mug and Luke wraps his fingers around it again. Ash has already picked up his feet, plopped them in his lap, and his free hand is resting on Luke’s ankles. He smiles over at Luke brightly. 

 

“Come on, Mike, start the movie,” Calum urges and Michael leans over to press play before closing the lid of his laptop. The movie starts on the TV screen and Luke sighs happily. It’s been a good day even though he’s very tired and still ill. He was possibly the most scared of being left alone in his misery and his bandmates didn’t let that happen; they try so hard to be there for him even when it’s borderline dangerous. Even when Luke doesn’t feel like doing much, when he’s dragging himself through his job, they make him happy anyway. Luke needs all of them, everything they’ve offered to him, and things are perfectly in balance. Even now, Cal is slowly caressing his hair and Mikey’s hands rest firm and sure on his thighs and Ash is drawing little mindless patterns on his ankles and they laugh in harmony and talk along to the jokes and it just feels perfect. 

 

“Love you guys,” Luke says when Ron Burgundy isn’t speaking and all eyes are on him for a second. 

 

“Love you too,” Michael says, his eyes bright, and Cal moves his hand to draw a heart on his shoulder, and Ash looks very happy and soft and giggly when Luke wiggles his toes.

 

“My throat feels a bit sore,” Michael announces then and Ash honest to God gasps. He looks terrified for a second and then pissed when Michael starts to laugh.

 

“You asshole, don’t do that,” he reprimands Mikey and swats him on the arm.

 

“Your face.... was fucking priceless,” Michael says through unabashed laughter, then leans his head on Ash’s shoulder.

 

“You took very good care of us,” he says as a peace offering and Ash accepts it.

 

“You’re getting extra lemon in your tea tomorrow morning,” he threatens and Michael whines. Obviously the tea is gonna keep flowing until Luke is healthy again.

 

“Fine,” he says, then, accepting his fate. “For Lukey,” he adds and turns to look at Luke.

 

Luke smiles softly back at him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you times a thousand if you made it to the end! i live for feedback, so if you want to, leave a comment down here or yell with me on [tumblr](http://whoisliina.tumblr.com) and i will love you forever.


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